


“Can you feel this?”

by midnightshon



Series: midnightshon's #Fictober2018 [1]
Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: F/F, FICTOBER2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 15:19:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16221803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightshon/pseuds/midnightshon
Summary: To be continued in the next RV-centered fictober oneshot ;)





	“Can you feel this?”

It was a little past eleven, three hours too long than the usual time Shon Seungwan arrived back at the apartment. Being someone who had been watching the brunette’s every move since two weeks ago, Joohyun could not help but wonder what took Seungwan so long. Seungwan had never come home this late—or so according to her observation—and now that she did, that meant there was something Joohyun had missed.

 

_ Does she have someplace to go? Does she have a routine she always does every night at that time of the month? Is she meeting someone? _

 

Joohyun was running through different possible scenarios when she heard something from her earphones. A door lock clicking open, a grunt, and then something slammed against the door. Joohyun took off her earphones and grabbed her jacket from the chair.  _ Relax _ , she reminded herself before she could sprint her way out the door like a mad woman. Instead, she took big strides there while putting on her jacket. She was out of her apartment just in time before the door next to hers closed.

 

Shon Seungwan was home.

 

With a kitten in one hand.

 

“Oh, good evening, Irene.” Seungwan, noticing Joohyun's presence, stopped herself from shutting the door close. “You’re going somewhere?”

 

Joohyun nodded absently, mind too preoccupied with questions regarding the presence of that small creature to answer her neighbor’s question. She raised one finger and pointed it at the kitten. It acknowledged the curiosity by staring back at Joohyun’s questioning eyes. “Why is that thing…?”

 

“Oh, this baby, I saw it wandering around the building earlier. It was all by itself so—”

 

Just then the gray kitten wriggled itself free from Seungwan’s hold and jumped to the floor. It made a sound, barely audible, but Joohyun knew it was directed at her. It was hissing alright, and for a fleeting moment, Joohyun wondered if kittens could sense bad intention in people and such.

 

The next sound came from Seungwan; she was calling out to the tiny creature but then let out a suppressed grunt. That finally brought Joohyun’s attention to the brunette for the first time, and what she saw surprised Joohyun more than the kitten’s presence. Seungwan was leaping from her position behind the door to catch the kitten, but stopped midway, half-standing, half-crouching, one hand gripping her side. The look on her face screamed pain.

 

Careful not to step on the kitten, she rushed to the brunette and grabbed her by the arm. She steadied the woman against the door frame. “Are you okay?” The question tasted weird on her tongue, but Joohyun figured that was the suitable thing to ask given the circumstance.

 

Seungwan let out a breath and offered an apologetic smile at Joohyun. “I might’ve been a bit too careless while trying to save this kitten,” admitted her.

 

“What do you mean?” Joohyun didn’t wait for Seungwan to answer. She quickly scanned Seungwan’s figure from head to toe. No trace of visible wounds or anything, yet she noticed the way Seungwan was holding her left arm close to her body and the stain of dirt on her sleeve.

 

The kitten was about to cross the street, Seungwan told her, when she saw it. Perhaps its reflex had not been fully developed, but the kitten had attempted to cross anyway despite a speeding motorcycle coming from its right. Seungwan had rushed to it, grabbing it just in time before it could be run over.

 

Joohyun listened to the story while pushing past Seungwan’s apartment door and leading the woman inside, the kitten in one hand, and told her to sit. “Where’s the first-aid box?” she asked. (She knew where, she had been in Seungwan’s apartment after all, but Seungwan did not know that.) She came back from the bathroom with it, grabbed a pack of ice, then positioned herself next to the brunette.

 

“And you voluntarily got yourself run over in the kitten’s stead,” she concluded the story. “How heroic of you.”

 

“It could’ve died.”

 

Joohyun fixed the woman a look, bothered by the fact that having a dead Shon Seungwan was as simple as letting a stray kitten wander around her, preferably with its life endangered. She was annoyed that Seungwan took it all so lightly when here Joohyun was, obliged to keep her alive until she could extract a certain information from her. Seungwan could not die just yet. Not until Joohyun told her so.

 

“Lift up your shirt,” she commanded.

 

The brunette did as told, although painfully slowly. Her right hand struggled to do it while the other remained glued to her side. That grimace decorating her expression told Joohyun that it was an impossible task.

 

Joohyun let out a sigh—the thing a bloody kitten got herself into—and reached for Seungwan’s hand. It must’ve been that wary look Seungwan was giving her, but Joohyun heard herself muttering an apology before lifting up the shirt herself.

 

Bruises had started to form around her side. She wondered how long it had been since the incident happened for the bruises to be visible already. An image of Shon Seungwan crouching on the side of the road, hugging a kitten close to her body, quietly mustering the strength to get up and walk back home flooded Joohyun’s mind. She eyed the woman suspiciously. “Are you sure the motorbike only slightly  _ brushed _ your side?” Without waiting for an answer, she added, “You should go to the hospital.”

 

“It’s fine,” Seungwan insisted, her free hand raising to move Joohyun’s aside and pull down the shirt. If the mention of hospital had disturbed her, she did not show it. Instead, she held out her hand and smiled, “The ice pack, please? I’ll compress it overnight.”

 

After handing the pack over, Joohyun took Seungwan’s left hand. There were scratches along the side. Carefully, she folded her hand upward so she could have a better look at the scratches and clean them. Once in a while, she eyed Shon Seungwan in case the action pained her. Seungwan remained calm throughout, eyes following the kitten that was now busy wandering around the living room.

 

Joohyun followed Seungwan’s gaze.  _ What a lucky kitten _ , she thought. Going out of her way just to save a stray kitten, that’s definitely not something Joohyun would do. But it had been Seungwan walking down the street...

 

That’s right.

 

It had been Seungwan who had spotted the kitten. The animal lover Seungwan.  _ What’s the odd? _ Joohyun felt stupid for pondering on the thought, but the more she thought about it, the more unlikely the whole scenario seemed to her. A seemingly perfectly healthy stray kitten wandering in the street, Shon Seungwan walking down the same street, and a motorbike speeding out of nowhere... the driver had not even stopped to apologize for hitting the woman.

 

“Aww!”

 

Seungwan’s yelp of pain brought Joohyun back to the living room. She loosened her hold on the woman's arm.

 

“Now that hurts.” Seungwan laughed.

 

“I thought so.” Joohyun shifted her hold and lightly tightened her hold around Seungwan’s wrist. “Can you feel this?”

 

Seungwan nodded with her lips shut tight. She breathed out when Joohyun let go. “From wrist up, it’s fine, I guess. Can’t feel three of my fingers at all though.”

 

Joohyun nodded.  _ It was not an accident. Someone has attempted a hit and run on Shon Seungwan, _ she concluded.

 

“Do you have some milk?”

 

“Excuse me?” Joohyun blinked.

 

“In your fridge,” Seungwan repeated. “We need to feed this poor baby.”

 

The notion made Joohyun frown. She stood up.  “I don’t, and I have to go. I forgot, I was going out to buy dinner.” She quickly cleaned up the table and put the medication back into the first-aid box. 

 

Just before she could leave Seungwan’s place, the owner called her. Joohyun stopped and turned to see Shon Seungwan offering her a smile. Shon Seungwan and her never-fading smile. Shon Seungwan and her love for animals. Shon Seungwan who had almost been killed for saving an animal yet never lost her smile and still thought of the well-being of said animal that got her a bruised hip, scratches, and numb fingers. Joohyun could not decide if it’s the kitten or that bright smile that irritated her the most.

 

“Thank you for cleaning my wounds and for the ice pack,” said the woman.

 

Joohyun nodded briefly. She started for the door, but stopped, and turned to Seungwan again. “Go see a doctor if the pain worsened tomorrow.”

 

“It’s fine. You’re right next door; I’ll just scream loudly if I need anything.” 

 

The grin on Seungwan’s face was so bright it was all Joohyun could do not to smile just as wide. She tried hiding it with a snort before replying, “I’m your neighbor, not your baby-sitter.”

 

“I know,” Seungwan said. Her smile remained as she leaned back against the sofa while fixing Joohyun this look she was not familiar with. “Perhaps tomorrow morning I’ll catch you on your way to buy breakfast or something.”

 

.

 

Once she was away from Seungwan’s unit, Joohyun fished out her phone and dialed a number. The person on the other side picked up almost immediately, as though she had been waiting for Joohyun’s call.

 

“Seul, where are you? We need to talk.”

 

\--------

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued in the next RV-centered fictober oneshot ;)


End file.
